


Spotting The Cracks

by xanam



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal
Genre: Alternate Universe, Crossover, Gen, Kidnapping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-13
Updated: 2017-08-13
Packaged: 2018-12-15 01:30:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11795628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/xanam/pseuds/xanam
Summary: Astral felt something was wrong as he followed Yuma and his friends out of the dormitory that morning and spotted Akari, mid-conversation with the head of the Explorers’ League, delaying role-call.He felt something was wrong when he seemed to skip over their tasks for the day, bursting with anticipation to tell them something else.Furthermore, he knew something was wrong as he heard the words spoken out loud.ZeXal/PMD EoS crossover for Zexal Month.





	Spotting The Cracks

**Author's Note:**

> Loads of people were doing really cool crossovers for zexal month this year so it took me a while to think of anything that hadn't been done yet, but this is the result. It's loosely based on the plot of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky because that's probably the one fandom I can never really get away from (and I know the game off by heart waaaaaay too well).
> 
> I hope people enjoy it <3
> 
> Additional note: Nobody's a pokémon in this, and nobody is species swapped.

Astral felt something was wrong as he followed Yuma and his friends out of the dormitory that morning and spotted Akari, mid-conversation with the head of the Explorers’ League, delaying role-call.

He felt something was wrong when he seemed to skip over their tasks for the day, bursting with anticipation to tell them something else.

Furthermore, he _knew_ something was wrong as he heard the words spoken out loud.

“Before any of you pick up any tasks for today, I have an announcement to make,” Charlie said, as Akari turned around to leave, giving Yuma a brief wave before departing. He grinned. “It looks like the goddess of luck is on our side today! Shingetsu didn’t let us down, the clever boy. He caught Nasch red-handed, and Heartland Police have him in their custody right now!”

There were cheers all round, and Astral just couldn’t understand what exactly about those words felt so wrong to him. Is this what humans would refer to as making their ‘stomachs churn’? The situation couldn’t apply to him, of course, but he almost felt as though he could relate to such an oddly specific feeling in this moment.

It must’ve shown on his face, because suddenly Yuma was mock-elbowing him discreety, almost falling through him, and looking rather confused at his reaction.

“Oi, Astral!” He hissed. “Lighten up, will ya? This is a good thing! The crystals are safe!”

Astral merely hummed in thought, ignoring him.

While it was true that Nasch being prevented from stealing any more crystals was a good thing, he couldn’t bring himself to appreciate nor trust anything that Shingetsu did. Something about him seemed unreliable, untrustworthy - dangerous, even. Perhaps it was nothing, and he was just being irrational. All things considered, there was probably nothing to worry about at all, and now they could finally stop worrying about more Barians potentially breaching Earth’s security.

This didn’t stop him from glaring to himself, lost in thought the entire way there as the league left the building and headed for the docks, where Shingetsu was apparently ready to meet them.

“Ugh, I’m tired of all this walking…” Yuma grumbled, beginning to slouch as they continued. Tetsuo stared at him as if he had grown a second head.

“You’re always running everywhere!” He scoffed. “You’re usually halfway through a duel before anyone else catches up during expeditions, cut the crap!”

“It’s not crap…” Yuma grumbled. “If we’re going somewhere, I wanna duel… Hey, why couldn't Shingetsu just come back to the base? Wouldn’t that be easier?”

“He called us out here for a reason,” Takashi pointed out. “So to summarise, we’ll probably find out when we get there.”

“Maybe… But I don’t like it.”

Astral heard a sudden yelp as Yuma was shoved forward, Kotori stood behind him with an annoyed pout.

“God… Stop whining and get going, you idiot!”

“Gah! I’m going, I’m going!”

Their destination was finally looming closer, and it looked like Akari had beaten them there, stood by her motorcycle talking with several police officers, along with-

“Shingetsu!”

He almost jumped at Yuma’s sudden shout of relief. “Hey, Shingetsu, over here!”

Shingetsu’s head snapped round at the shout, and his eyes lit up. Everybody began to run towards him (lead by Yuma, of course - so much for being tired), leaving Astral to drift after them, stopping next to Yuma as he spoke in a hushed whisper.

“Oh, hi, everyone! You’re here!” He broke out into a wide grin, eyes gleaming with happiness. After a moment, his eyes seemed to find Astral’s, and the uncomfortable feeling returned.

“Yuma... I don’t like this.”

Yuma turned to him, rolling his eyes.

“This _again_?” He hissed. “What now?!”

Before he even had time to respond, gasps were heard as some form of strange breach ripped apart in front of them, right beside Shingetsu.

“What the hell is that?!” Cathy squeaked.

“Shingetsu, watch out!” Akari warned, looking ready to make a move.

“It’s okay guys, it’s okay!” He reassured quickly, waving his hands in front of him in dismissal. “I just brought some friends from my time to help me send Nasch back, that’s all!”

Without another moment to spare, three men materialised out of what Astral could only assume was a portal - one rather tall with long white hair in a purple suit, a shorter man in ninja-like clothing and goggles, and a third with greying skin and a balding head. The portal closed behind them silently, as if nothing had been there in the first place.

“Hi, guys!” Shingetsu greeted the newcomers with a cheery wave. They merely grunted in response, seemingly uninterested in saying hello.

 _‘Shingetsu certainly keeps interesting company,’_ Astral thought to himself.

Yuma’s friend coughed, embarrassed at the response he received.

“...Anyway! That was just a portal, leading back to the future. Now I’ve finally caught Nasch, we’ll send him back through here and make sure he gets the justice he deserves, after everything he’s done.”

“Where is Nasch, anyway?” Tokunosuke asked, looking around as if expecting to spot him hiding behind a tree. “Maybe he got away again.”

“Nope, the police are bringing him right now,” Akari responded, pointing to two police officers walking in their direction, dragging the criminal over as he thrashed. Astral stared the gag they’d placed around his mouth, vaguely aware that this didn’t seem like a normal thing to do. Nasch definitely seemed enraged to have been caught - good riddance.

Nasch stared directly into the crowd, and at first, he thought the other was looking at Yuma, remembering their encounter several weeks before. His eyes drifted further to the side, however, before widening. It almost seemed as if he was looking at _him_ , but that would be impossible…

A few muffled noises from behind the gag, before the shortest of the men from the portal stepped forward, roughly pulling him away from the police.

“We’ve got this now, thanks.”

The tallest reopened the portal, the four of them disappearing in an instant.

“The gag seems kind of amoral…” One of the officers muttered. Shingetsu sighed sadly.

“Trust me, he needed it.” He took a deep breath. “Anyway, I’ve done what I came here to do now… I just wanted to say thank you to you all for helping me!”

“You saved all our lives,” Kotori reassured him. “Thank _you_ , Shingetsu!”

“Yeah!” Yuma agreed. “We’d be screwed without you!”

“The crystals keeping the Barians out should all be back in their rightful places soon, so there’s that. Everything should sort itself out in my time soon, too...” He glanced behind him hesitantly. “...Which is why I brought you guys out here like this. “I’m going home…”

Shocked gasps rang out all around.

“What?!”

“I thought you wanted to stay on at the league?!”

“Those guys have it covered! Stay with us!”

“I’m flattered, but I can’t…” He shook his head. “It’s been wonderful staying with you all, but I have people I need to check up on back there.”

The atmosphere seemed to have dropped into something much more solemn, but nonetheless, everyone began to nod in understanding.

“What are you waiting for then? Get going, already! They’ll be missing you!” Cathy said.

“Take care of yourself!” Yuma added. “We’ll never forget what you did for us…” His eyes were welling with tears, and he didn’t seem to be the only one.

Astral couldn’t bring himself to care, personally.

“I will!” He turned away, and lifted his hand. A portal that was incredibly similar to the first appeared before him, but he hesitated.

“Yuma-Kun… Can you come here a second?”

Yuma didn’t need telling twice, pushing past Kotori and Takashi to their protests, standing in front of him and waiting for him to explain. “What is it, Shingetsu?”

“...Can I have a hug, before I go?” He asked quietly, not quite looking at him. “You’re the best friend I’ve ever had, and-”

“...Yeah.” Yuma hugged him tightly without a moment’s pause. “You don’t need to explain. It’s okay.”

“Thank you…”

The hug lasted a while, before Yuma tried to pull away.

It continued.

There was definitely, _definitely_ something wrong here.

An embarrassed noise from Yuma.

“Uhh… Shingetsu-”

He spoke again in what almost sounded like delight, just quiet enough for him to hear. Astral couldn’t recall a time he’d ever heard Shingetsu sound unhinged like this.

“...Juuuuuuuuuust kidding.”

Everything happened in an instant. He began to dematerialise through the portal, still keeping a firm grip on Yuma, and Astral rushed to him as quickly as possible, reaching for Yuma and grabbing his shoulder just as he started to vanish, too.

_“Yuma!”_

The last thing he saw before his vision faded to black was the shocked faces of his friends vanishing from sight, replaced by red. Lots and lots of red.


End file.
